17 BB Cream

17 BB Blemish Balm, £6.99, Boots

'17 BB Blemish Balm is your 'no make up make up' - a cult wonder product  

that gives your skin a complete natural, flawless finish.'

I have been waiting for this to be released for a while now, BB creams seem to be the latest make up trend at the moment. Whilst Garnier were the first to introduce a BB cream to the drugstore market, many brands are set to follow suit and I have already heard No7 are planning to release one early next year. I was keen to try the 17 one as I'm a big fan of the brand and usually find their products are good quality at a reasonable price.

The 17 BB cream retails at £6.99 but is currently on an introductory offer of £5.99 at Boots. I don't think £6.99 is a bad price at all, it's not only cheaper than the Garnier BB cream but I also use this as I would a foundation, so essentially you are buying a foundation for 7 quid. 

There are two colours available - light and medium, I chose light which is still slightly too dark for my skintone. This can be solved by adding a touch of moisturiser to lighten and some serious blending. I'd say this product is pretty adaptable to most skintones as it can be darkened with foundation/lightened with moisturiser to suit everyone. 

The consistency of this cream is quite thick, however I wouldn't call this product full coverage and I would dispute the fact that it covers blemishes but I'd say it is a step up from a tinted moisturiser. This product does an amazing job of evening out skintone and leaving skin with a dewy finish, great for fresh faced, young looking skin. I would still always use a concealer with this product and if I'm after a lot more coverage I add a regular foundation as and where it's needed.

I'm afraid my swatch isn't the best, but it was very hard to photograph and the effect is much better when viewed in person, so if you're debating purchasing this I would urge you to go and test it out on your hand in store. The left side of my hand shows a blob of the cream so you can see what it looks like straight out of the tube, the right hand side shows it rubbed in, you can see it gives skin an even tone and the dewy finish is most obvious in the middle of my hand (please enlarge the image to have a proper look).

The product is advertised as oil control, I have combination skin with an oily t zone. It has a creamy formula and I find that whilst it makes my face feel slightly greasy after a few hours the reality is it doesn't look too shiny on the skin. To make extra sure that I avoid the shiny face look I always dust my face with a powder after application to keep oil at bay.

I think this product is a great introduction to BB cream at a very reasonable price. It is easy to apply, leaves skin looking lovely and has an SPF25. 

What's in My Holiday Bag? Part 1

I am off on holiday this week and ever since I booked my tickets I have become obsessed with What's in my Holiday Bag videos on You Tube. I don't want to presume anyone has any interest in what I'm taking on holiday but I couldn't resist doing a post on the products I'm taking before I go, In the hope that maybe someone out there - at some point in the future - might find this useful. I haven't included every single product I'm taking (otherwise we'd be here forever!) to save you all from complete boredom I have omitted all the boring products, I'm pretty sure no one wants to see my bug spray, deodorant or toothbrush! :)

L to R: Garnier Body Intensive Hydrating Lotion 400ml £2.99, Superdrug,
Nivea Sun DNAge Face Sun Cream SPF 50 50ml £7.69, Superdrug,
Hawaiian Tropic Sun Lotion SPF 30 200ml £12.25 Superdrug.

First up is Sun cream. Being such a pale thing I don't fair particularly well in the sunshine, I do tan but it takes a long time and I'm prone to burning. I can't stand being sunburnt, not only is it painful but it's also very bad for your skin so I tend to wear a high factor. The suncream I have chosen to take on holiday is Hawaiian Tropic Sun Lotion in Factor 30, I have never used this before but it was recommended to me by a fellow pale skinned girl who just got back from two weeks in Mexico so it should be fine on my skin. Whilst I love the smell of all sun cream (mmm coconut scents!) this one smells particularly lovely! It doesn't feel sticky or greasy (v. important!), absorbs into the skin quickly and best of all is water resistant and has UVA and UVB protection which is a must with all sun cream!

Next up is the Nivea DNAge Face Sun Cream SPF50. I always use a really high factor on my face as I develop freckles easily and I'm hoping to avoid looking like a leather handbag by the time I'm 40. Nivea is a brand I trust and I use Nivea lotion every single day, so it was natural to buy my face sun cream from them. This will be slapped on my face, hands and decollete, I also pop higher factors over my moles - I have no idea whether this makes any difference but I like to be cautious and cover them in a high factor. The cream feels light and not too heavy or greasy for the face area...no one likes it when sun cream causes break outs! 

The price of After Sun is ridiculous so rather than spend £10 on a bottle of 'official' After Sun I opted to spend £2.99 on this bottle of Garnier Body Intensive Hydrating Lotion with Aloe Vera. It smells lovely and fresh and will hopefully feel cooling on my skin after a day in the sun.

L to R: The Pink Cow Vanilla Biscuit Bath and Shower Gel 500ml £2.99, Boots,
Alberto Balsam Coconut and Lychee Shampoo and Conditioner 400ml
£1 each, Poundland

Whilst the size is a little excessive I chose to take The Pink Cow's Vanilla Biscuit Shower gel as the boyfriend and I agreed to share it - I'm sure he'd kill me if he knew I'd revealed his love of girly fragranced shower gels on my blog! The product smells great, sweet and vanillary and best of all it doubles up as a bath foam and shower gel. I was not going to bother taking any body products but I'd rather take my own than rely on the hotel's toiletries, plus it is cheap enough to chuck out at the end of the holiday.

It's become a bit of a holiday tradition to purchase the very cheap Alberto Balsam shampoos and conditioner for my holidays. I tend to buy a different scent for each holiday and as a result certain fragrances remind me of particular places - the freesia one will always remind me of our family apartment in Florida and Sunkissed Raspberry (my favourite) makes me think of a friend's hen do in Malaga. For this holiday I chose coconut which I was delighted to come across (in Poundland no less!) as I have never seen this fragrance before and I am a total coconut fiend! These shampoos are very basic and gentle, they don't do anything fancy other than clean your hair and are perfect for holidays when you are constantly dipping in and out of the water.

Stay tuned for part two of this series which details my holiday make up :)